Protecting a crown jewel of the Cascades

Oregonian Editorial: Better late than never, the Forest Service imposes a ban on gas-engine boats on crystal-clear Waldo Lake

A recent Forest Service decision could help preserve Waldo Lake as a haven for quiet recreation. Photo by Gary Guttormsen.

It's been well over two years since Oregon timber tycoon Stub Stewart died, but his name has been popping up in the news a lot this summer.

Much of it accompanied the opening of L.L. "Stub" Stewart State Park in western Washington County last month. Then came some exceedingly vocal complaints from the late executive's son, Steven Stewart of Eugene, about the U.S. Forest Service decision to ban gas-powered boating at pristine Waldo Lake in the high Cascades.

As much as Oregonians should appreciate all that Stub Stewart did for this state in a long career of public service, the Forest Service deserves support in this dispute. Pollution-spewing internal combustion engines never belonged on Waldo, one of the purest big lakes in the world along with Oregon's Crater Lake and Lake Baikal in Siberia.

If anything, the Forest Service spent 20 years too many pondering the issue before finally deciding on the motorboat ban in April. Electric boat motors will continue to be allowed, but in 2009, after a two-year program of educating boaters, the agency will begin enforcing the no-gas-engine rule at the cobalt-blue lake east of Oakridge.

In June, Steven Stewart appealed the ban on grounds it would prevent elderly and disabled people from enjoying the mile-high lake. In a formal appeal, he invoked the name of his father, who went on annual motorboat tours around the lake up into his 90s.

After losing the appeal, Stewart said he may take the matter to federal court. That's his right, but Waldo Lake would be best served by protection from petroleum-burning engines.

Worldwide, Waldo is among a mere handful of large lakes that are literally as pure as distilled water. On a calm morning, the lake bottom is visible more than 100 feet below the surface.

Interestingly, though, the Forest Service based its fuel-engine ban not on protecting water but on meeting public demand for noise reduction, especially along Waldo's many miles of semiprimitive shoreline. Although the lake doesn't lie within its namesake Waldo Lake Wilderness Area, it is adjacent to it.

The ban at Waldo also includes gas-power generators, chain saws and float planes. All of that makes sense in a comprehensive plan to reduce noise pollution from this place of wonder, but preserving the lake's amazing purity should be the trump card.

Visitors to Oregon's high Cascades still have many beautiful lakes where they can enjoy motorboating, water-skiing and personal watercraft. It's long past time that Waldo Lake be designated as one of only a handful of large natural lakes in North America that remain free of the whine, exhaust and oil sheens from fuel-burning motors.

And as for discriminating against the aged and infirm? Jose Linares, the Forest Service appeals officer, answered that just about right in his formal decision on Waldo: